COMBINATION OF GRAFTING TECHNIQUES TO CLONE SUPERIOR GENOTYPES OF Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. et

Grafting in species of Pinus is used to establish asexual seed orchards. Generally, grafting success is low, therefore, it is required to study the influencing factors. Such as the technique and the contact surface of the cambium that depends on the length of the cut on the scion and the rootstock. The objective of this study was to evaluate graft success, growth, and needle development on Pinus patula grafts as functions of the grafting technique and cutting length. It was expected that a specific combination of technique and cutting length would allow predicting the graft success. The techniques of top cleft, side-veneer and splice grafting were used with three cutting lengths (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 cm) in a completely randomized design with factorial array. The data were analysed with an analysis of variance and treatment means were compared with the Tukey test (p ≤ 0.05). Sixty days after grafting, technique influenced success; top cleft grafting had the highest value (80%) but was not statistically different from side veneer grafting (73.3%). There was, however, statistical difference between top cleft and splice grafting (56.7%, p ≤ 0.05). There were no differences among the three cutting lengths in terms of the three variables evaluated. The effect of the interaction showed that top cleft and side veneer grafts with the cutting length of 1.5 cm expressed the greatest growth (32.4 and 32.2 mm, respectively); followed by side veneer grafting with the cutting length of 2.0 cm (30.4). The study demonstrated that the most viable techniques to increase grafting success in P. patula are the top cleft and side veneer techniques. Cutting length of the scion and the rootstock can be set within the range 1.5 to 2.5 cm